


Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time

by Night_Hawk94 (orphan_account)



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017), bughead - Fandom
Genre: AU, Bughead as parents, Christmas oneshot, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, I’m talking the fluffiest of fluff, basically Jughead trying to make Christmas special, but I hope you enjoy it, this is cheesy as fuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28100418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Night_Hawk94
Summary: Jughead goes above and beyond to make Christmas special for his wife and daughter.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 16
Kudos: 83





	Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time

**Author's Note:**

> This is coming out a little earlier than expected, but honestly I just couldn’t wait anymore. 
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed it :)

It’s cold. _Really fucking cold._

Jughead could feel the icy chill seep right into his bones, making him shiver, even beneath the thick sweater and jacket he had on, but it didn’t deter him. 

_Oh no._

He was on a mission of great importance and he had no intention of failing. Not today. 

Staring at the fir tree in front of him, it’s dark green fronds dusted white with fresh snow, he narrowed his eyes, clenching his gloved hands into fists. 

He’s going to cut down this tree ... drag it’s prickly ass inside ... and decorate it like an expert. 

Because it’s Christmas.

His first Christmas with his wife and newborn child and he wanted it to be the best one ever. 

Reaching down, he grabbed the handle of his shovel and straightened up, squaring his shoulders and rolling his neck from side to side. 

_It will be,_ He decided, _This will be the best one ever._

It took Jughead almost half an hour to dig the tree out of the ground, but he managed to do it without too much of a fuss. In fact, he thought things were going quite well until, afterwards, when he tried to steady the fir tree and it ended up toppling over instead. 

He gasped loudly and before he even knew what was really happening, it’s spiny branches engulfed him and he tumbled backwards, landing in the frigid snow behind him. 

Jughead closed his eyes, cursing non-stop through gritted teeth as he dug himself out from underneath the tree. 

“And t-t-this ... this is exactly w-why people buy their f-f-fucking Christmas trees from a farm.” He grumbled, blowing hot air into his already gloved hands. 

Damp, breathing heavily and shivering from head to toe, but still somehow determined to carry on, he wrapped the roots and soil in a thin layer of plastic and tied a rope around the trunk. 

He trudged and stumbled his way back towards the house, tightening his grip on the rope as he dragged the tree behind him through the snow. He sighed and pulled even harder, trying not to look as though he wanted to chop it up into pieces and turn it into firewood. 

Which, come to think of it, was something he was seriously considering at this point. 

After dusting off the snow and finally getting the tree through the front door and into the living room without miraculously breaking anything, Jughead secured it into a standing position and collapsed onto the couch, taking a moment to breathe and get warm again. 

Step one completed ... now to decorate it. 

He eyed the boxes of decorations apprehensively then. 

In the past, he had helped Betty decorate the tree before. Of course he had. It was one of his favourite things to do with her during this time of the year, but he had never helped from the very beginning. Always only after she had started without him. 

Jughead pulled off his beanie, replacing it with the Santa hat Betty had bought for him, before he stood up and approached the boxes, each one labeled in his wife’s neat, cursive writing; Baubles, Tinsel and Lights. 

His mouth skewed with doubt and he ran his fingers through his hair, feeling that confidence of his from before quickly start to disappear. 

_Shit, where the heck was he supposed to start?_

He moved his gaze over to the stairs, knowing that if he climbed them he would probably find Betty in their room, still snuggled beneath the covers, reading a book in bed ... right where he’d left her. 

He reasoned that he could simply ask her how to do it, but he also knew that if he did that, she would definitely insist on helping him. 

And that wasn’t what he wanted. 

What he wanted was for his wife to have a relaxing, stress-free Christmas. 

No ... he could do this on his own. There had to be a logical answer to this situation. 

With that in mind, Jughead crouched down on the floor and opened each box, considering his options carefully. He seemed to remember there being a sequence of some sort which made decorating the tree a lot easier. 

“How did it go again?” He murmured to himself, his face scrunching up as he thought about it. 

Was it decorations first, then tinsel and lights. 

Or was it tinsel first, then the lights and lastly the decorations. 

Or lights ... the tinsel and then the decorations. 

He picked up a wad of lights in one hand and a few strings of tinsel in the other, trying to remember what Betty had told him the last time he had helped her, but all he could recall was how cute she looked in that Christmas sweater she always wore with the reindeers on it. 

He rolled his eyes. _Yeah ... Very useful._

After scratching his head and debating with himself for almost ten minutes, Jughead caved and pulled out his phone. Maybe the internet could give him some answers. 

As it turns out, after reading several articles and watching just as many videos on YouTube he discovered there were a number of ways to decorate a tree and all of them claimed to be “the correct way to do it”. 

“Jesus,” Jughead groaned, “When the heck did this get so fucking complicated!” 

He heard the stairs creak then and immediately looked up, just in time to see Betty, still wearing her pajamas and aSanta hat that matched his, descending them with their daughter; Juliet in her arms. 

A beautiful smile crossed her lips when she saw him and Jughead froze, feeling like he’d just been caught stealing out of the biscuit jar or something. 

He blinked though, forcing out a cough as he recovered quickly. 

“Oh hey,” He said, grinning and tucking his phone back inside his pocket, “You’re up.” 

Without saying anything, Betty lifted herself up when she reached him and he leaned down, kissing her gently. 

“I couldn’t stay in bed anymore,” She murmured, “And this one here missed her daddy,” Jughead dropped his eyes down at the mention of their daughter, his lips curling into a warm smile when he saw that she was fast asleep, “Well ... she did miss you a few minutes ago,” Betty corrected herself with a sheepish giggle. 

He chuckled as well, dropping a soft kiss on one of Juliet’s tiny, plump cheeks. He still couldn’t believe his little girl was almost three months old already. Her birth felt like it had only happened yesterday. 

He looked at Betty again, and like so many times in the past he was in awe of how lucky he was to have her. He grinned and wrapped an arm around her, being careful not to crush their daughter as he pulled her in and kissed the hair on the side of her head for no reason other than because he wanted too. 

“How are you always so beautiful?” He murmured. 

Betty snorted softly, probably thinking her messy bun and rumpled pjs made her look anything except beautiful, but that’s how he liked her. Comfortable. Natural. 

Exactly like this and she knew that. 

“Oh it’s a real process.” She teased, dragging out the words. 

Jughead breathed out a laugh. “I bet.” 

Grinning broadly, Betty shifted her head, tilting it upwards in search of his mouth again and he gave her what she wanted, slipping his tongue past the seam of her lips this time. 

She pulled back first, slowly opening her eyes and staring at him. “Are you managing alright?” 

Jughead smirked at the concern he saw on her face. 

Ever since he had first proposed the idea to her that he would handle Christmas this year, she’d been worried. He couldn’t blame her. It was a lot of work and a big responsibility, one that she was used to handling, but after the birth of their daughter, she had agreed to relax and let him be in charge for once. 

Still he did his best to not look frazzled when he answered the question, “Yeah, I’ve got things covered.” 

Sure, he might’ve hit a few stumbling blocks and was currently in the process of losing his mind because he wasn’t sure how to decorate a goddamn fir tree, but he still felt undiscouraged. 

When Betty arched an eyebrow at him, like she was slightly unconvinced, Jughead laughed softly and pecked the tip of her nose. 

“I swear babe, I’ve got this. Now go sit that pretty butt of yours down somewhere and let me handle everything.” 

He gave her ass a playful squeeze for good measure and she blushed beetroot red, finally stepping away from him. 

“Okay okay,” She giggled, “Let me put Juliet down quickly and then I’ll make some hot chocolate. Do you want some?” 

Jughead nodded. After his hike through the snow earlier that sounded absolutely amazing. He watched her go before his lowered his gaze to the boxes again, his brow furrowing. He still needed to make a decision. 

“Fuck it.” He muttered. 

Lights ... tinsel ... then decorations. 

_Fucking done._

~ 

To Jughead, Christmas wasn’t Christmas without Betty’s famous sugar biscuits. 

The taste. The smell. Icing them. It all went hand in hand with the festive period. He simply couldn’t imagine it any other way. 

After setting up the tree and making it look pretty darn good - not as good as Betty made it, but still really close - he drank the rest of his hot chocolate with her on the couch before moving into the kitchen to start baking. 

Staring down at the recipe, he pinched his eyebrows together with pure confusion before moving his gaze back to his first batch of biscuits. 

Betty’s biscuits were always golden brown. Sweet and caramelised in flavour with a melt-in-your-mouth texture and the perfect snap. 

His were way too brown around the edges and basically fell apart whenever he broke them in half. 

_Okay ... Where the hell did he go wrong?_

It didn’t make sense. He had followed the recipe to the very letter ... What the actual fuck! 

“Okay,” He grumbled, “Take two I guess.” 

This time, he carefully measured out the ingredients, formed the dough into a ball, wrapped it in plastic and chilled it in the fridge for an hour before rolling it out slightly thicker than he had previously. 

He cut the dough into various Christmasy shapes and placed them on a baking tray, putting them in the oven for ten minutes. 

When he pulled them out, his first initial thought was that they looked quite good. The colour was right and the flavour was okay, but that snap just wasn’t there. 

“Shit!” Jughead cursed under his breath. 

Come on ... He had to get this right!

On his third try he measured out the ingredients slowly and then measured them out again just to be sure. He chilled the dough for two hours this time, rolled it out into a thickness somewhere in-between what he’d done before, cut it up and baked them for ten minutes and not a second longer. 

Relief washed over him when he took them out and he saw a tray of perfect, Betty-level-of-goodness biscuits. 

“Oh thank god!” Jughead grinned broadly at his achievement, snapping one in half and popping it in his mouth. 

He groaned at the taste. Delicious ... Exactly what he was used too. 

He let them cool completely before decorating them with red, green and white royal icing the way he’d done so many times before with his wife. Except this time he couldn’t enjoy teasing her or kissing the frosting off her lips. 

He tuned out the world around him as he worked though, so fixated on the task at hand that when his phone suddenly rang he got a huge fright, the sound making him jump and bump the tray of biscuits, sending them tumbling to the kitchen floor. 

“No no no ... oh god ... please no!” Jughead cried, feeling his heart crumple at the sight of the broken mess in front of him. 

He heaved out a despondent sigh, clenching his jaw. For fucks sakes, he just couldn’t win with these damn biscuits! 

“Juggie, is everything okay down there?” Betty called, having obviously heard the noise. 

He panicked. “Oh um ... yeah, no everything’s great here, Betts, don’t worry!” He shouted back, “I just need to um ... run to the store quickly and get more icing sugar.” 

He rushed around then, cleaning up the shattered biscuits and hiding them in the oven. He snatched up his car keys next and bolted for the door. 

If he hurried he could get some more ingredients and make a new batch before she even noticed. 

~ 

After disposing of his previous attempts and taking not just one, but three batches of fresh, perfect sugar biscuits out the oven, Jughead decided to tackle one more task before it got too late in the afternoon. 

Besides he needed something to do while he waited for the biscuits to cool. 

Truthfully, he didn’t have any experience hanging Christmas house lights, but when he saw boxes of them at the store, he’d had an impulse and decided to try his hand at it. 

_How hard could it be anyway?_

“Ouch ... shit, motherfucker!” Jughead yelped, gritting his teeth in pure agony, “Fuck that hurts!!” 

Placing the hammer on the roof, he quickly ripped off his glove, ignoring the icy air on his toasty skin, and sucked the tip of his thumb into his mouth. 

_Jesus!_

It was the fourth time in the last three hours that he had accidentally clipped it while hammering in the hooks to hold up the lights. 

He squeezed his eyes shut, letting the throbbing subside, before he pulled his thumb out again and looked at it closely, noticing that it was starting to bruise under the nail. 

_Perfect ... just perfect._

He heard the sound of someone giggling then and peered down, not at all surprised when he saw his wife standing at the base of the ladder, grinning up at him. 

“You having fun up there?” She asked, biting down on her lower lip. 

“Oh yeah ... soooo much fun, Betts I can hardly stand it.” Jughead said sarcastically, his lips quirking into a smile. He pulled his glove back on and picked up the hammer, climbing down the ladder again. 

When he reached the bottom, he dropped the hammer into the snow and slipped his arms around Betty, tugging her in for a long, much-needed hug. 

“Come here.” He murmured. 

She giggled and held him without protest, smiling and turning her face into his neck. 

“God, you’re freezing Jug,” She whispered, rubbing her hands over his back to help warm him up, “Please tell me you’re done now. It’s getting dark and I really don’t like the idea of you out here in the freezing cold.” 

He chuckled quietly. 

Betty had been watching him like a hawk all afternoon, worried that he might fall off the roof or hammer a nail into hand or something. He could tell she wasn’t that sold on the idea at first. She didn’t dislike it either, she just thought he had done more than enough already. 

But Jughead was persistent. He promised she would love it when he was done. 

“Yeah I’m finished, now all we have to do is turn on the power and see how amazing these puppies look.” 

He leaned back, grinning from ear to ear. To say that he was really excited would be an understatement. After all the effort he’d put into doing this he couldn’t wait to see how good the end result would look. 

After heading inside, Jughead scooped a smiling Juliet up in his arms and kissed her forehead while Betty found a warm jumper for her to wear and a thick blanket to wrap her up in. Once she was ready, he slipped a beanie over her head, covering her small wisps of blonde hair. 

“Right, you two can head outside so long and I’ll go turn the lights on.” Betty said, beaming up at him before pressing a swift kiss to his cheek. 

Jughead nodded, grinning as he did what she suggested and headed for the front door, holding Juliet securely against him. 

“You want to see what daddy did?” He asked his little girl, his heart practically melting in his chest when she gave him a tiny smile and gurgled in response. 

He tightened the blanket around her a little more when he stepped outside and started trudging through the snow, glad that the wind which had been blowing earlier had died down now. 

He turned back towards the house after a few feet, watching and waiting with anticipation. 

The lights in the house flickered on without warning, but the ones lining the roof of the house. The ones he had spent nearly the entire afternoon painstakingly putting up didn’t turn on. They didn’t even fizzle. 

Jughead’s jaw dropped to the floor. 

_You have got to be fucking kidding me!!!_

He stood there, frozen in place. Completely and utterly horrified. This has to be a dream. This can’t be real. It can’t it - 

“Juggie?” 

It took a moment, but he eventually moved his eyes over to Betty. Her lower lip was trapped between her teeth and her green eyes seemed to dim even more with sadness as she stepped towards him cautiously. 

His mouth twisted into a grimace. 

He wanted to say something. Maybe yell or get really mad, but his shoulders slumped and he found himself cuddling his daughter instead, heaving out the anger he felt with a disappointed sigh. 

His features had softened by the time Betty reached him and placed a comforting hand on his arm. 

“Maybe you can have a look at them tomorrow and try to figure out what’s wrong.” She suggested gently. 

Jughead nodded solemnly, giving her a forced, lopsided smile. “Yeah maybe.” 

Her face crumpled a little more, but she didn’t say anything else, already fully aware of how he felt and that nothing could really fix it right now. 

Instead, she closed the remaining space between them and he pulled her in, hugging the two people in this world who meant the absolute most to him. 

“Come on,” He murmured, “Let’s get back inside.” 

~

Hours later, Jughead lay on his and Betty’s bed feeling just as shitty as he did before. 

After everything he had been through today. All the setbacks and hardships. No matter how minor they were and how he managed to win and overcome some of them, he just couldn’t get over how unlucky he apparently was. 

He heard the door click open softly before his wife slipped back inside their room, having pacified their daughter who had started crying in the middle of the night. 

“Is she okay?” He asked. 

“Yeah, she’s more than okay. Just hungry like her daddy always is.” Betty answered, giving him a teasing smile. 

He almost smirked, but his grumpy mood prevented him. 

“Are you okay?” She probed, her voice softer and laced with sympathy now. 

Jughead gave his shoulder a shrug. He was fine, just annoyed and rightly so. After all, his plan to make this a really great Christmas was currently lying in shambles at his feet. 

After the lights fiasco earlier he had confessed everything to her once they were in bed, finally disclosing how much he’d been struggling all day. It felt good to get it out, to have her kiss him and tell him ‘It was okay’, but it wasn’t enough to make him feel better. 

Jughead felt the bed dip as Betty joined him under the covers again, releasing a sigh when she pressed a small kiss to his shoulder. 

“Did I ever tell you about the first time I tried to handle Christmas on my own?”

He turned his head and looked at her curiously. “No. I don’t think so.” 

To his surprise, Betty let out a small laugh. 

“Well let’s just say it was a total disaster. I completely overcooked the turkey. Knocked the tree over the night before Christmas and had to rush out and buy gifts for my parents because, with everything that was going on, I forgot about them.” 

Jughead raised his eyebrows. Yeah okay ... that sounded pretty fucking bad. 

“And would it shock you if I said that this only happened five years ago?” 

“What?” He gaped at her in disbelief, “No way! We were living together. I don’t remember that at all.” 

Betty smiled into his skin, smoothing a hand over his bare chest. “That’s because I hid it from you and I vowed that I would never do that again, because I nearly went insane trying to stay on top of everything by myself.” 

Jughead dropped his eyes, turning his face back towards the ceiling. 

_Yeah okay ... he saw where she was going with this._

“My point is,” She continued, “You can’t beat yourself up over this, Juggie. Just because you made a couple of mistakes doesn’t mean this will be a bad Christmas. Did we have a bad one five years ago?” 

He shook his head. _No_. If anything that was one of the best Christmas’ he’d ever had. 

“Exactly, so cut yourself some slack. I know you wanted to make it special for me and Juliet, but we still will no matter what happens. It’ll work out, okay?” 

He nodded, feeling his bad mood ease slightly. 

“Besides I already have what I wanted for Christmas.” She stated matter-of-factly. 

Jughead frowned. 

_Hold up ... What did that mean?_

He was about to ask when she shifted beside him, throwing her one leg over his hips so that she was straddling his waist. 

With her blonde hair framing her face and the sleeve of her shirt slipping off her shoulder, letting that soft skin of hers peek out, Betty grinned down at him coyly. 

He swallowed hard. 

_Fuck ... She was so damn beautiful._

He could feel himself stir beneath her, his fingers restless and just itching to tug that shirt over her head so he could really see her. 

“Want to know what it is?” She asked. 

Jughead’s hands found her hips and he nodded without saying a word, completely transfixed. 

Leaning down, Betty pressed her lips to his, kissing him slowly and softly until his body relaxed, letting himself sink further into the mattress beneath him. 

“You.” She whispered with a smile, brushing her nose against his. 

Jughead smirked up at her and moved his one hand to the back of her neck, pulling her down for another kiss. 

He sighed into it, his heart filling with warmth, with every movement of her mouth and stroke of her tongue against his. 

And even though they had their eyes closed, they both sensed the exact moment when flashing, colourful lights suddenly streamed in through their windows. 

They pulled apart, astonished beyond words when they saw that their house was lit up like a Christmas tree now. 

“My lights!” Jughead breathed with delight, curling an arm around Betty’s waist as he sat up straight. 

Her own arms went around his neck and she smiled into his neck when she hugged him. “See, I told you so.” She teased. 

He grinned, her laughter ringing in his ears as he fell backwards, rolling them until he was settled on top of her. 

_“Yes, yes you did.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading. 
> 
> Feel free to leave a like and comment💕


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